Wednesday, 30 August 2017

Reggae Wednesday

Sly & Robbie are probably the most successful and prolific duo in reggae music history. Someone once estimated they've played in excess of 200,000 tracks together, not including remixes! Of course, many of those were as backing musicians for some of reggae's biggest names, but they are still going (their latest album came out earlier this year), so they may well be heading towards a significantly higher number by now. To date they've put out more than 70 albums since 1979.

During the mid-to-late 80s, they went down a more commercial, electronic direction, even enjoying a UK #12 hit with Boops (Here To Go). But as with so much music of that time, it has not dated well.

1984's 'Reggae Greats (A Dub Experience)' is widely regarded as one of the best dub records of all time. That is very high praise when you consider they have peers like Scientist, Mad Professor and Lee 'Scratch' Perry who have all been as equally prolific over the years (though Perry has been at it for quite a while longer). Demolition City definitely sounds like something that inspired 'Screamadelica'-era Primal Scream. Some of the remixes that were spawned from that album sounded not unlike this.

This is the life of...

What's it all about?

A load of stuff with some nonsense thrown in. Some of it autobiographical, some of it informative, some of it amusing and some of it that is none of the above. But all of it is about music and my obsession with it.

(Links to music files will die in time. Files are intended only to illustrate my posts in sound form. Buy what you can from reputable music retailers. Support your local indie stores whenever possible. Go to gigs as often as you can afford. Love music. Embrace it. Keep it alive.)